


Clip-On

by booyahfordham



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: (sort of), Episode: s17e09 Depravity Standard, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booyahfordham/pseuds/booyahfordham
Summary: Based on the prompt:"what if when sonny first became a detective, he didn’t know how to tie a tie? so he spent all of his work days wearing clip ons or no tie at all until he meets barba and barba is just like 'okay what the fuck man'"Set during 17x09 "Depravity Standard"





	Clip-On

**Author's Note:**

> As requested, a full one-shot based on the headcanon!

On the day of Sonny’s first communion, his parents gave him a tie. Not a clip-on like he usually wore to church, but a real tie that his dad had to tie for him. Two months later, the tie had been retired to the back of his closet as he went through another big growth spurt. From then on, his mother refused to buy him another real tie. Why waste the money if Sonny would just grow out of it in a month?

Now, even as an adult, Sonny doesn’t really see any reason to spend money on a real tie when no one would even notice the difference. What’s the point of spending money on a more expensive tie that requires more work when he already has a good collection of perfectly fine clip-ons?

 

On Sonny’s first day at SVU, he tries his best to make a decent impression. He uses a fancy new cologne that Bella got him for his birthday, and he spends half an hour doing his hair. When he gets there, no one really seems to like him, but he just keeps chugging along.

 

After a little over a year at SVU, Sonny is fitting in more. He goes out for drinks with Fin and Amanda, and he starts spending more and more time with Barba, observing him and learning from him. He spends time helping him prep for trials, and eventually, they start talking about Sonny shadowing Barba for a case. Soon, the opportunity arises with the Hodda case.

Every day they work together on the Hodda case, Sonny takes extra care with how he presents himself. Barba always wears expensive suits and has perfect hair, and Sonny wants to show him that he’s serious about his studies. Every morning, he clips on his tie, spending time making sure it’s impossible to tell that it’s a clip-on. He can’t even imagine what Barba would say.

They’re working on jury selection when Sonny realizes that somewhere along the line, the clip-on ties went from convenient and wonderfully cheap to shameful and secretive. He knows he should really just invest in some real ties, but with the cost of school and living in Manhattan, he just can’t bring himself to splurge.

Still, as he begins working late with Barba on a more regular basis, the fear that his secret will be revealed is ever-present. Every time Barba looks at him, Sonny is scared that he’ll notice the clip-on and say something, but he never does.

 

Until one day, when they’re working in Barba’s office, going over their notes on each juror, Sonny is sitting at a table, surrounded by note cards. Barba is sitting on top of the table a few feet away, and he takes off his jacket and loosens his tie. It’s getting pretty late, and they’ve been at it for a couple hours, and Barba sighs.

“Feel free to get comfortable.” He says. “We’re going to be here a while longer.”

Sonny freezes. He doesn’t know what to do, so he starts to shrug off his jacket, and the second Barba looks back down at the notes in front of him, Sonny, keeping his eyes on Barba, reaches up to unclip his tie. When Rafael looks back at him, Sonny hasn’t quite gotten the tie off, so he quickly returns his hands to the desk. Barba lowers his eyebrows and half-smiles awkwardly at Sonny.

“You can take off your tie if you want to,” And he slips his own tie off his neck and stands up. “I was gonna get some coffee. You want a cup?”

Sonny immediately and reflexively reaches back up to his clip-on and realizes he can’t go back. “Uh. Yeah. Sure. Thanks, counselor.”

Barba starts to turn, and Carisi cringes, taking the tie off as fast as he can, but not before Barba’s eyes widen, and his jaw starts to drop slowly in disbelief.

“Okay, what the fuck, man,” Barba starts laughing at him, and Sonny’s cheeks flush red, and he doesn’t know what to do, so he just puts the tie down and looks back up at Barba.

“Oh Jesus, have you been wearing clip-ons all this time?” He might as well be wheezing, and Sonny’s glad Barba’s having fun because Sonny certainly isn’t.

Sonny nods, staring straight ahead, and Barba just stumbles over to the coffee maker between fits of giggles. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you just buy a regular tie?” 

Sonny just looks over at Barba in shame, and Barba looks expectantly at Sonny before realization sets in, and Barba’s face becomes dead serious. 

“No. Fucking. Way.” 

Barba puts down the coffee pot and brings a hand to his mouth. 

“How in the –” Barba stops. “How have you _possibly_ managed to get to this point in your life without ever learning to tie a tie?” 

Sonny grins sheepishly, thinking that maybe Barba is being a _bit_ overdramatic about this whole thing. Barba walks back to the table and carefully takes the offending object in his hands. 

“I dunno,” Sonny shrugs. “Guess I never really needed to.” 

Maybe it’s the time, or maybe it’s the drink they shared earlier, but Sonny can’t remember ever seeing Barba throw his head back in laughter quite like he does when he hears Sonny say that.

“No shit,” Barba laughs, tossing the tie onto the table. He gets up again and heads to his desk, opening a drawer.

“Carisi, listen. I wouldn’t be a responsible adult if I let you leave this room without knowing how to tie a tie, so here.” He tosses an expensive-looking plain green tie into Sonny’s lap. Sonny picks it up, rubbing the material between his fingers.

“It’s way easier than it looks.” Barba says, undoing the knot in his own tie and draping it over his shoulders. “Come here.”

Barba gestures for Sonny to approach, and they both stand in front of the window, peering at their reflections. Sonny drapes the dark green tie around his neck like Barba has. 

“Alright, so the first thing you wanna do is lay the wide end over the skinny end, like this.” Barba says, showing Sonny on himself before looking over at Sonny’s work.

“Right, so now you want to bring the wide end through like this, and bring it back down on the same side,” Barba says, and Sonny does exactly as he instructs. He moves his fingers out of the way so that Rafael can inspect.

“And now do this,” Barba says, turning to face Sonny and pulling the wide end underneath the knot. Sonny does the same, and Barba nods.

“Okay, now do the same thing as before,” Rafael says, pushing the wide end through the loop and bringing it back down.

“And now bring it around, under, and through the loop you’ve just made,” He says quickly, and Sonny watches carefully as Rafael’s fingers maneuver the knot and tighten until it sits perfectly around his neck. He puts his collar down over the tie.

Sonny pulls the tie tight, exactly as he just saw Rafael do, examining the knot and noting how stupidly lopsided it looks.

Sonny frowns and looks over at Barba.

“Uh, did I –”

“No, no, you’ve got it,” He cuts Sonny off. “You just haven’t pulled it tight.”

Rafael reaches up and pulls the wide end of Sonny’s tie while stabilizing the knot with his other hand. He shifts the knot, pulling on the thin end to get the tie to just the right length. Sonny watches as Rafael pulls his collar down over his tie, adjusting to make sure the fabric is completely covered by the collar. He adjusts the knot once more, meeting Sonny’s gaze and smiling softly.

“I told you it wasn’t as hard as it looks,” Barba says, moving his hands to his own tie.

Sonny clears his throat and looks back at his reflection in the window.

“Yeah,” Sonny says, eloquent as ever.

“So now you don’t have any excuse to wear a clip-on ever again, understood?” Barba says, grinning at Sonny’s reflection.

“Oh, uh, actually, I only have clip-ons.” Sonny says before realizing the words that were coming out of his mouth. He watches his cheeks go red again. 

“Oh my god,” Barba groans, squeezing his eyes in mock pain. “Take that one. I never wear it anyway.”

“Oh, no. I c –” Sonny starts to protest.

“Just take it,” Barba says. “Think of it as a thank you gift for working this case with me.”

Sonny turns back to Barba and smiles. “Okay. Thank you.”

Barba rolls his eyes, turning and walking back to his desk.

“Come on, Sonny. We’ve got work to do.”

 

The next morning, Sonny is chatting with Rollins about Jesse when Barba walks into the precinct. He meets Sonny’s gaze, and Sonny watches as Barba’s eyes drift down to his chest.

“I like the tie, Carisi.”

Sonny looks down at the dark green tie, the one he had to tie four times this morning before he got it right. He looks back up at Barba and beams.

“Thanks. It’s new,” Sonny says.

Barba grins.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! If you'd like to read the headcanon/prompt that this is based on, you can just make your way on over to my tumblr (@booyahfordham)!


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